


Rain Soaked

by godaime_obito



Series: Madatobi Week 2018 [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Yokai, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, M/M, MadaTobi Week 2018, Yôkai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-06-19 21:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15519033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godaime_obito/pseuds/godaime_obito
Summary: Madatobi week; August 1st: Yokai/Gods/MonstersMadara is going to be in a lot of trouble if he doesn't find that boy. What kind of future head of a tengu clan can't even watch one child?





	1. Dark Clouds

**Author's Note:**

> I used yokai.com for ideas, but I didn't stay strict to it. It's myth-based, but not really myth-accurate lol

Madara is never letting Kagami out of his sight again. He let the kid go down to the river by himself when he was supposed to be watching him, just for a few minutes to make a little tengubi while Madara ran an errand, and he vanishes. He thought Kagami would be easy to find at first. Madara would unfurl his wings, fly around the area a bit, and spot him below. He’s too young to fly himself so he couldn’t get far. However, Madara’s been flying back and forth over a larger and larger area for at least an hour now and the rain is starting to bog him down.

Surely nothing is foolish enough to try making off with a tengu child? Perhaps some particular yokai would be willing to risk an unguarded one. He should not have been so arrogant as to leave him unguarded. His parents will have his wings for this if that’s the case. The can each rip one off while informing him of how horribly stupid he is. A soon to be clan head who can’t even watch one child properly.

Maybe there’s some kind of river dwelling yokai who saw something. Madara flies back to the section of the river he left Kagami at and lands.

“Hey! If anybody’s in there, get the fuck up here,” Madara yells. He is not in the mood for subtlety on most good days. A reptilian looking head peaks above the water, curious at the racket.

“You! Have you seen a kid? A tengu?” he shouts, gesturing at the figure.

It pops its head the rest of the way out of the water. It’s a small kappa, a common yokai in rivers like this. Green and scaly, with unblinking reptile’s eyes.

“One,” he rasps, “Less than an hour ago.”

“Well? What happened to him? Where is he?” Madara snaps, and levels his worst glare.  If this kappa likes his blood on the inside he better get to the point.

“I saw him fall in the river earlier. Didn’t seem very good at swimming, but someone pulled him out,” he stutters out, seeming to be appropriately frightened. It’s good to know Madara’s glare hasn’t lost its touch.

“What did the person look like? Where did they go with him?” he grills the kappa. Just for good measure, he grabs him by the shoulder and hefts him into the air, his webbed feet dangling uselessly. The kappa starts shaking.

“It was a man, I think? White hair, red eyes, blue yukata. Headed that way, tengu-sama,” he answers, and points towards a cliff face.

The cliff is tall enough that falling off it would result in an unpleasant, likely fatal for a human, dip in the river. From this angle, he can see indents into its side, shallow caves. If Kagami is in there it’s no wonder he couldn’t spot a sign of him from above. He roughly tosses the kappa back into the river, and unfolds his wings.

Gliding quickly though the steady rain, he lands lightly at the entrance of the largest cave. None of the others are big enough to hide what he’s looking for. Stepping further into the cave a small fire soon comes into view. Illuminated by the flame there are several figures, four smaller figures, likely all children, and one larger. The man with white hair and red eyes by the looks of it.

One of the smaller shapes catches sight of him and jumps to its feet. “Madara-sama! Madara-sama! I made lots of tengubi, but then it rained, and I slipped, and I drowned a little, it was super fun!” Kagami cheers.

“ _FUN_ ,” Madara roars, “You just admitted to _drowning_!”

“Only a little! Tobirama-sensei pulled me out,” he defends, “I’m almost dry now.”

Madara sighs in resigned exasperation, “Sensei?”

Kagami gives his best smile, “He said he would teach me how to swim, so I, ya know, wouldn’t drown a little anymore.” The smile switches to big puppy dog eyes, and he adds, “If that’s okay with you Madara-sama.”

“Just let me talk to him first, then we’ll see about any swimming lessons,” Madara replies, sighing again. Watching Kagami always involves minor disasters but this is on a level all its own. He turns his attention to the fire where the man and three other children are sitting, for some reason the man is much wetter than Kagami even though they likely got out of the water at the same time. He drips water onto the stone ground steadily. The little tengu trots over to the other children, seemingly happy to chat them up while Madara talks to this ‘Tobirama’ man. The other children seem harmless enough, although on closer inspection they may be a bit transparent, so he leaves the boy to it.

“You’re Tobirama? I’m Madara Uchiha. I suppose I should start by thanking you for helping Kagami,” Madara says. He settles down next to the man, as he makes no move to stand, and Madara prefers to be able to make eye contact. Easier to tell when someone’s trying to pull one over.

“I could hardly leave him to the river, and I suppose I’m what made him slip,” Tobirama replies, finally facing Madara properly.

He looks the other over as he speaks, takes in his wet yukata, and dripping white hair, more closely, before meeting his red eyes. Tobirama holds himself confidently, and his expression is guarded, but not dishonest. Madara’s face twists in thought when he says that he made Kagami slip. Kagami said he slipped because of the rain, but the man is likely a yokai if he’s casually sitting with tengu and what seems like lost zashiki warashi.Wet even after Kagami’s almost completely dried, some sort of affiliation for children…

“Are you an _ame onna_?” Madara asks disbelievingly. He really can’t think of anything that really fits, but he doesn’t really look like what he pictures ame onna as.

“Why so shocked?” Tobirama inquires, lifting a single brow.

“Just,” Madara starts, but sputters a bit before he’s able to continue, “You’re not, well, an _onna_.”

“It’s an unfortunate misnomer, so many yokai get called something onna, when there are plenty of men in the species. I’m sure it reflects some sort of bias on the part of humans,” he replies, sniffing indignantly.

“Right, sorry,” Madara replies, but finds himself unable to keep from blustering more possibly offensive questions, “How did you end up an ame onna? You don’t actually kidnap children, do you?” He really can’t let Kagami take swimming lessons with someone prone to childnapping like ame onna supposedly are. Although Tobirama’s already much more attractive then ame onna are said to be and, well not a woman, so it’s probably all hearsay.

Tobirama levels him a cold, serious look. “I understand you are concerned, but you need not worry. I, like all real ame onna, was formed from a human who took the loss of a child particularly… poorly. In my case it was two younger brothers.” He looks over at Kagami and the other children, and his gaze softens minutely. “The three children with me are zashiki warashi who no longer have relatives to visit their shrines, and took to wandering. Some ame onna do become prone to taking other’s children to try and replace their loved ones, but I would never do such a thing-”

“I believe you,” Madara cuts in. He’s been making plenty of eye contact, and he can tell from the look in Tobirama’s eye that he isn’t lying. He’s been alive a few centuries now, and that’s a genuine expression if he’s ever seen one.

“-I wouldn’t spread my loss to others,” Tobirama cuts off his rant, as what he said registers. “You… believe me?” he asks, bewildered.

“Yes. That’s what I said. I believe you. I’ll even let you give Kagami those swimming lessons, clearly he needs them dearly,” Madara gripes.

“Huh,” Tobirama replies still seeming a bit confused. “No one ever believes me,” he says softly. Madara decides not to answer that, he doesn’t really know what to say. Does everyone ear ame onna and run the other way? Having only ghost children for company must get a bit lonely.

“How is a week from now for the lessons?” Madara asks, looking back at Kagami.

“Perfectly fine, I’m not really busy any day,” Tobirama says matter-of-factly.

“Great, see you then,” he says, standing up and heading back out of the cave. If he sits around thinking about Tobirama’s problems he’ll get sad, or angry… probably angry. He needs to go hit something.

“Kagami, let’s go home. You can see those other brats when you get your swimming lessons,” he says as he passes by where the boy is playing games in the dirt. He’s going to be damp and filthy when Madara gets him home.

“Yay! Lessons! Are they soon?” Kagami reacts enthusiastically. Madara hopes he’s not subjected to an endless bombardment of questions the whole way home like he was the whole way to the river.

His hopes are, unfortunately, all in vain.


	2. Clear Skies

Kagami’s first official swimming lesson is going great. Tobirama moves through the water smoothly and naturally and it’s tempting to join him, but not so tempting as to overpower the potential embarrassment of being seen looking like a drowning pigeon. Madara has been safely supervising from the river bank. Admittedly, he was wet from the rain when they first met, but that’s no reason not to look better for their first planned meeting. Also, Tobirama is always wet but he somehow looks good wet, so it doesn’t count. Madara’s not sure how he is around even though it isn’t raining, but at this point he’s not going to question it.

“Is he good enough to not drown yet?” he yells over. It feels like they’ve been at it a long time.

“I hardly think one lesson is enough,” Tobirama says with exasperation. He seems to take Madara’s complaint as a sign to call the first lesson to an end, and ushers Kagami out of the water.

“How many lessons is enough?” Madara asks. His eyes wander over Tobirama as he approaches. Drops of water drip from his pale eyelashes and run down his cheekbones. His very nice cheekbones. It really isn’t fair that he looks so good wet.

“I think it will take a couple months,” he replies, “just to be sure.”

“Are you staying around for a while then?” he asks, trying his best to sound causal, and falling very short.

“I suppose I’ll be in the area for at least the rest of the summer,” Tobirama answers with a smirk.

“Are you playing coy with me?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” he replies, clearly knowing exactly what Madara means.

Kagami has already run off, hyped up to tell his parents about how he managed not to drown or something of the sort. Madara should go back with him and he can pay coy too if that’s the game.

“Never mind then,” he says, “I’d better make sure Kagami hasn’t gotten into more trouble on his way back. Should we meet here the same time next week?”

“Yes,” Tobirama says. He’s still smirking lightly. Madara isn’t sure if he loves that expression or hates it. He spreads his wings and shoots off in the direction Kagami ran, before he manages to make a fool of himself.

* * *

 

Summer is fading away quickly. Already the leaves have started to turn, and the mornings have begun to bring a white frost. Kagami seems to swim fine on his own now, and even if he didn’t the river won’t be swimmable much longer. A sort of tension has hung over the last few lessons, the unspoken knowledge that their arrangement is coming to an end. If Madara wants to spend a few hours every week staring at Tobirama’s bare chest, not that he’s been doing that, he’s going to need a new excuse.

He glances over at Tobirama sitting next to him, and watches the rainwater drip off him steadily. The last couple of weeks Kagami has been doing well enough that he’s been left alone in the water most of the time. The two of them have exchanged anecdotes and at other times just sat in each other presence on the riverbank. Interestingly Madara has discovered that while ame onna are not only able to go out in the rain, they are constantly wet with rain water no matter where they go, which leaves them looking obviously out of place anywhere that is dry. Perhaps that’s why Tobirama is so good at swimming. He just spent most of his time near people pretending to be wet from river and sea water rather than supernatural rain.

Madara jerks a little when Tobirama’s arm brushes against his. He was so distracted staring at him he didn’t realize he was leaning closer. He flushes red, and jerks his head the other way, failing miserably at trying to look like he wasn’t staring at Tobirama for at least three straight minutes. He peaks back at him from the corner of his eye to see that he’s looking back with a small amused smile. Getting caught staring isn’t so bad; Madara looking foolish is worth a rare real, not-a-smirk, smile from Tobirama.

“You haven’t gotten in the river at all this time,” he observes.

“Kagami needs to know he is good enough on his own now, so I won’t be getting in. This is his last lesson,” Tobirama replies softly.

“I had guessed as much. Will you stick around for the fall and winter?” Madara asks intently.

“I’ve stayed here longer than I’ve stayed anywhere else,” he says.

“That isn’t a no,” he grins, “Kagami is fond of Koharu, Hiruzen, and Homaru. I think they’ve really started to settle in. It would be a shame to move them, but they’d never want to stay behind if you go.” Madara has become fond of the zashiki warashi too, but he can hardly admit to that.

“That’s a low blow,” Tobirama complains, “You know I hate upsetting the children.”

“You will just have to stay then,” he says, and grins even more. He’s bordering on a proper smile now, and glances at out the water just to be sure no one can see it. Smiles are for immediate family, and now sometimes Tobirama.

“I don’t really have any long term set up,” he deflects, “I’m not really prepared to stay here.”

“You don’t need a long term set up,” Madara scoffs, “The compound is just through that patch of the woods.”

Tobirama jerks his head to look at him straight on, eyes wide. “The compound?”

“Of course.”

“You want me to live there?”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt for you to give it a try. I think you’d enjoy it.” It’s clear to Madara that Tobirama is a family man at heart, just like he is, and no matter how he tries to play it off he’s been lonely wondering around with just the children for company. “Wouldn’t it be nice to have somewhere to go back to? People to come back to?” Madara asks.

“Would the people even want me coming back there?” Tobirama wonders.

“I would. I think once they meet you most will agree,” he asserts.

“What about the elders. Don’t you complain about how insular and old-fashioned they are near constantly?”

“I believe I’ve also made it clear that I’ve gotten adept at putting them in their place. Do not worry about the elders. I can handle them,” Madara assures him.

Tobirama looks back at Kagami in the river, obviously torn. Madara shifts his hand over his and grasps it. He looks back over at him in reply, and then glances down at his hand in Madara’s, a considering look still on his face.

“Come on Tobirama, stay, some back with me today,” he pleads. “Kagami would love to introduce you,” he adds with more levity.

Tobirama’s face shifts only minutely, but it’s enough for Madara to tell he’s won. A proper smile breaks out on his face.

“Fine,” Tobirama sighs, “I’ll try, but if it goes bad I’m leaving.”

“I knew you’d come around,” he cheers, “Don’t worry. It’ll work out, I swear.”

Confidence boosted by his sudden joy, Madara pulls Tobirama in by their still connected hands, and kisses him. He freezes a moment in response, before he seems to give, and then they’re both pressing into it. Making out like teenagers on the riverbank. If Kagami sees them they’ll never live it down, but in the moment neither of them can bring themselves to care. The sky is clear and bright, and the future looks much the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. This is actually complete now, haha. I just felt like it needed a little more to really close this 'verse.


End file.
